Author Dave Eggers

The son of a lawyer and a school teacher, Eggers grew up largely in Lake Forest, Illinois, in the Chicago suburbs. Eggers studied jo

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urnalism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign before both his parents died suddenly, his mother of stomach cancer and his father from brain and lung cancer, the circumstances of which are described in detail in Eggers' highly acclaimed memoir, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.

After the death of his parents, Eggers moved to Berkeley, California with his eight-year-old younger brother, Toph, who Eggers was now responsible for raising. While Toph attended school, Eggers worked for a local newspaper. During this time, he worked for Salon.com and co-founded Might Magazine.

In 2000, Eggers published A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, his memoir of his parents' deaths and his struggle to raise his younger brother.